While the soldiers are intended to fight Isis, they may find themselves clashing with Iranian ‘volunteers’ and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters in what is a highly combustible situation

The sending of ground forces by Saudi Arabia into Syria will have immense ramifications for the country’s civil war and the wider region. The question, however, is whether it will actually take place.

The Saudi announcement comes at a time when prospects for peace have faded with the collapse of the Geneva talks and the conflict has intensified with regime forces attempting to encircle Aleppo backed by heavy Russian air strikes.

The already sour relationship between Russia and Turkey, backers respectively of the Syrian regime and rebels, has also worsened. Ankara accuses Moscow of being complicit in trying to impose a “starvation siege” on Aleppo while the Russians claim the Turks are planning to invade Syria.